Ballots to remain uncounted in MI and Stein blocked in Philly. Guest: Election integrity, law expert Paul Lehto says this proves 'only option is to get it right on Election Night'. Also: Trump taps climate denier, fossil-fuel tool for EPA...

Wow! Russ Feingold --- a Democrat that I could now actually consider voting for for President! --- offers the single best, most complete and clear rebuttal to the mountain of Bush Adminstration lies, deceptions, and disinformation concerning their illegal warrantless NSA wiretaps of American citizens on U.S. soil. He kicks alotta ass here. Read it, memorize it...

Additionally..."Anonymous Liberal" is in a back-and-forth with wingnut Jeff Goldstein over the illegal NSA wiretaps. The following quick exchange from their debate, however, is too hilarious to not note here. It starts with the claim made frequently by Goldstein and other Bush apologists and is followed by AL's response:

[T]he administration, under AUMF, is treating the al Qaeda threat as a war; civil libertarian absolutists and the Dem leadership are treating it as a law enforcement issue domestically, complete with attendant vigorous defenses of fourth amendment protections for would-be terrorists, including demands for FISA warrants (which were intended as a law enforcement tool, and are in fact, if I'm correct, still be used as such), and spirited attacks on our foreign intel gathering capabilities.

This argument is so incredibly ass-backwards that its staggering. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as you might guess from its name, is a statute that regulates the type of surveillance used for foreign intelligence gathering purposes. Contrary to Jeff's contention, it has nothing whatsoever to do with law enforcement surveillance. Traditional law enforcement surveillance (of the mob, drug dealers, etc.) is governed by a totally different statute, Title III of the Omnibus Crime Act of 1968 (the "Wiretap Act").

But with this neo-government and media,
no populist would ever have a chance at the presidency
Has their ever been one since FDR ?
The dude that founded the Fellowship Foundation started that downward slippery slope way back in the thirties

Hey, I'm a nobody, retired 50 something housewife. My only foreign contacts are the grocery store import isle. Yet I've had my email intercepted between my husband and my account; my Christmas present (shipped directly from a well known company) opened, every bottle and tube of cosmetics squeezed out and dug into, the gift card destroyed, then they poured the perfume samples out over it, sealed it with security tape and sent it on.

I've seen unmarked utility trucks (except for the federal plates) opening up and doing something to the phone boxes all over the county. And they built a "homeland security" cell tower that has destroyed radio reception. So when they say they're only listening to Al Quada and the innocent have nothing to fear - THEY LIE!

Feingold blows hot and cold. One week he's a champion, the next he rolls over and licks Bushco's hobnailed boots! Seriously, he is one of the good guys. But until the Dems STEP UP and SPEAK THE TRUTH about our stolen election system, they are destined to remain--just as Rove always planned--a permanent minority.

Everyone please sign the petition urging Senator Boxer to get out in front on Election Fraud. Diebold is currently rolling across America just in time for '06. Unless a prominent politician (NOT Kerry, ahem) speaks out and forces the mainstream media to address this issue, we're all in big, big trouble. Boxer was the only senator to stand up against the seating of the Ohio electors in the stolen 2004 election. I believe she can be swayed. Urge everyone you know who cares about the fate of America to sign this petition:

You can stop repeating it now because everybody knows...its not congress whos going to do anything.

Its us. And it means now the Diebold company is just about to go belly up, and in those states they were trying to roll out, they have been getting kicked out and clobbered. Keep up on the news. The machines are getting tossed out, smashed, and ripped out from places replaced with ACTUAL disabled ready devices....

Are you sure someone can't prove it? What with all the proven tampering in florida, purchased contributors in ohio and so on....I think its only a question of when, not IF someone will prove it. By adding up all the miscounted votes

Yes Russ Feingold is the real deal and he takes absolutely NO CORPORATE MONEY,I heard him in congressional hearings about cleaning up congress just last week.This is the kind of man we need to run for President, integrity and morals,something that is sorely lacking in most politicians today. GO RUSS!

WHERE's the video of the afternoon Gonzales grilling from yesterday? C-SPAN has the morning session, but not the afternoon one. Did Feingold humiliate him so badly we can't see it, or what?

I like Feingold a lot, but I want Gore for president. I did want Obama to be his running mate, but after his sorry performance on the Alito confirmation, I'm not so sure. Maybe Gore/Feingold.

I went over to Raw Story and read the speech. Very impressive. Who's listening? How's he going to back it up? Time for congressional dems to not just THINK outside the box, but to JUMP out of the box, get FLORID ABOUT IT, do stuff the MSM can't ignore. If Feingold, and his compatriots can't get enough "Repiglicans" [listen to Bob Kincaid at Head On Radio 7-10 ET, 4-7pm our time, at

to hear more about what Repiglicans are doing to us.] to vote with them on this illegal wiretapping, stop all these stupid PR stunts in hearings, if they can't make America work right, WHAT are we doing applauding their speechifying?

Then there was this from that crotchety old childless drug addict with whom no woman can live with....
"I don't believe there is any conclusive evidence of global warming," he said. "And I certainly don't believe that it can be attributed to human activity  and particularly not by activity by the United States. That is the political agenda behind the global warming scare. It is an anti-West, anti-U.S., anti-free enterprise movement."

I like your refreshing approach of blaming the majority for the wrongs of the majority. This is a welcome and vital change from being hypnotized by neoCon talking points that are designed to have us focus on "the failures" of the minority party, while they cheer at the crimes of the majority.

This is a different time. This is a time to pull together in harmony and cast out the republican majority. They fully, completely, and without any doubt deserve it. We must do it in November to the House of Representatives, and to any reachable Senate members as well.

The challenges we face on voting machines are matched in the gerrymandering issues. The majority party has redrawn the district lines (gerrymandering) to support the republican party. The legality of that is before the Supreme Court as we speak.

I am afraid that if the fraudy voting machines and the fraudy gerrymandering are not abolished, what was done in Star Wars most assuredly and most certainly will happen here. Remember when the congress cheered the new dictator in Star Wars? They cheered Bush in the SOTU. This is as serious as death.

Again, I appreciate your ability to see that we must focus on voting out the republicans in November. This is to send them a message that we throw the garbage out.

Ricky - The truth is, you are boring. Come up with an original thought every now and then, participate in the discussion instead of being rude and posting irrelevant talking points, and Brad will let you stay.

And btw, that offer to tutor you in English is still on the table. Don't worry if you can't afford to pay me, you can work off your time - bring work gloves and insulated boots, it's supposed to snow this weekend.

I was so happy to read that Russ Feingold is someone you could consider voting for because that is very wise. Whether one agrees with his progressive politics or not, he is irrefutably the most honest and thoughtful Senator in Congress. He holds listening sessions in all Wisconsin county every year, which is unheard of among congressional representatives. Feingold is a straight-shooter with his constituents' best interest in mind, and he would be an outstanding president!

One thing I've noticed about Ricky, similar to most trolls, is that he never engages anyone in dialogue. There's no back and forth with Ricky; he just plays offense, then he goes away for a few hours and comes back with a new barb on a different subject.

Ricky, here are a few suggested punch lines for you to use in the future. This will save you time. All you have to do is post "# 1" or "# 2," etc. etc. And as Kestrel suggests, because you do need help with grammar, spelling, and punctuation, you need not worry that these are less than perfect. Here goes:

1) "You lefty kooks talk about the law, but James Knox Polk broke the law, so I guess the reason you don't mention him is that he was a Democrat."

2) "You hypocritical Clinton lovers want to hire lawyers for terrorists because you love the law more than you love America."

3) "Hey Brad, how come you don't talk about the fact that Cindy Sheehan met Chavez in Venezuela?"

4) "The more you Commie-loving kooks talk about Bush, the easier you make it for us."

5) "@#((*%@#@*&))@@#*"

6) "What's bad for the country is good for liberals."

7) "You liberal kooks just hate America, that's all."

8) "You left-wing hypocrites are all alike; you love Clinton and hate Bush."

5 p.m. Election Day---Hughes Tells Bush He's Lost
6 p.m. ---Rove Tells Hughes and Bush Not to Worry
What Did Rove Know and How Did He Know It?

Ohio---Impossible vote tallies for third-party candidates in Cuyahoga County at Kerry's expense (flipped votes, obviously)---Impossible vote tallies in Southwest Ohio for little-known African American judge candidate from Cleveland who outpolled Kerry there (ditto)---more votes than registered voters in Republican districts---Warren County lockdown based on fraudulent claim of security warning from F.B.I. (never explained)---Deliberate fraud in selection of precincts for recount---Efforts of Blackwell to disenfranchise Democratic voters (including defiance of a court order)---Noe's diversion of Coingate millions to enable election fraud efforts (complete truth yet to emerge).

Finally, Truth Seeker, the absolute silence of the mainstream media regarding the election (except to ridicule those protesting it as "conspiracy theorists" and "sore losers") speaks volumes, don't you think? The New York Times carries front-page banner headlines about people in Kiev taking to the streets over the Ukraine election, but won't so much as assign one investigative reporter to the 2004 election. TV networks won't touch it (except for Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, who suddenly stops talking about it when viewers get interested).

The point is...people "in the know" know the election was stolen, but can't fix the problem without causing chaos in the financial markets. We've sacrificed our democracy on the altar of Wall Street stability, and we will pay for it down the road when someone who rigged a central tabulator in Ohio makes a death-bed confession or writes a book about it.

Dredd #27: Again, it all comes back to our votes counting. I give a pass to the people getting fooled. But then, they don't have a chance to vote out these creeps because of "the machines". I believe they tried to vote Hackett over Schmidt. What exactly did Schmidt have to offer them? What was her platform? More of the same Ohio-cesspool-connected shennanigans? No way! I'd like to know what the "real" vote count was in that election. We know what it was in the Kerry-Bush election: Kerry won by 3%.

I fully agree with you, Brad, about Feingold for President. I'd been thinking along those lines for some time now. In fact, I'll put my effort where my mouth is and offer to help set up a Connecticut office for him. At least he knows his votes won't be tampered with here!

Exit polls do NOT lie. Why is there not more investigation into the exit polls around the country but especially in the battleground states. I'm sure there would be inconsistencies all over. I suppose it is pretty hard to recount votes that don't exist anymore though.

Can we have a re-vote with paper ballots Mr. Bush, you know, just in the name of fair politics? If you really did win then it would be nothing for you to do it again.

Wouldn't that be something... a FAIR election. That's almost comical these days.

I agree with everything you wrote, but is any of that admissable in a court? And what court would that be? Since Congress approved the Electoral College count, there is no way to reverse the election. The election frauds may be proven for history but it will not change the 2000-2008 power grab. I think our focus should be on the future not the past.

What is needed is a national strike day to 'make' our representatives force voter verifable auditable voting systems!
So since we don't have much time (if we want voting fixed by 2008...to late for 2006 already...Imagine Terri Schavio a law was passed over a weekend and VOTING, no fix since 2000????) Anyway back to the massive protest/strike, let's do it around the 4th of July to celebrate the desired of the citizens of the USA to have voting systems with integrity!
Come on one of the big groups lets get a coalition going with all the other groups and do it!
Every city, every state, and a big one in DC....let's make Sept24th the protest of 300,000 look small!

For Truth Seeker: You're correct that exit poll anomalies, no matter how bizarre, wouldn't stand up in court as evidence. But in the court of public opinion they could bring Bush to the point of zero credibility as a legitimate president...provided only that the media assisted in calling the facts to the public's attention. Which, of course, it hasn't done, because to do so would cause the dollar to collapse and financial markets to implode, resulting in at least a severe recession, probably a depression.

People with high intelligence and without political bias (a small number these days) already know that George W. Bush's presidency is an absolute fraud, compounded by his ineptitude in office. It very truly isn't about left vs. right, it's about legitimate vs. illegitimate and competent vs. inept.
Whether this minority, added to progressive activists, can yet satisfy enough members of Congress is doubtful...but I'd make bold to suggest that added to impeachable offenses such as illegal spying, it makes for a stronger overall case. And if Bush is illegitimate, so is Cheney, because he was elected on the same fraudulent ticket.